Hidden by the Leaves
by BladeMoon
Summary: Haku died by Naruto's hand that fateful day on the bridge. This causes Naruto to take shinobi life seriously as he follows his dream to become the greatest Hokage ever! Strong!Cool!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Hi there! This is my first time writing a fic though I've been reading them for almost 4 years now. I am by no means a writer, so any suggestions as to how I can improve will be greatly welcomed.**

 **Summary: Haku died by Naruto's hand that fateful day on the bridge. This causes Naruto to take shinobi life seriously as he follows his dream to become the greatest Hokage ever!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Thick Mist**

Thick mist settled over the bridge. Naruto could barely make out Haku's face. But he knew it was him. It all came rushing back to him; the voice, the movements, the manner of speaking. By now the Kyuubi's chakra had all but faded from his system.

"Why?" He inquired of the effeminate boy in front of him.

If Haku heard him, he gave no indication of it and replied with his own request, "Naruto-san, please kill me."

Naruto didn't understand. He couldn't understand. How could a person ask for death so peacefully? Haku had given up, that much was clear. " _But why?"_ Was the question on the blonde's mind.

Why would a single defeat matter so much that he would actually request his own death? Naruto decided to repeat his question, "Why?! Damn it!" Anger and confusion evident on his face now.

Haku replied with a level tone "Because I live only to serve as a tool for Zabuza-sama…He is my precious person, surely you can understand? He has no use for a broken tool."

"Why the hell does no brow mean so much to you? Don't you have other precious people?" Naruto screamed.

Haku was silent for a moment before answering, "I once had people that were precious to me… My parents"

As Haku recounted the story of his childhood in Kiri, Naruto couldn't help but feel strangely connected to the formerly masked shinobi.

"After I killed my father and escaped the others I realized something that hurt more than the loss of my parents," Haku trailed off, eyes still devoid of any emotion.

Naruto was too afraid to ask what Haku had realized all those years ago for fear he already knew.

"The realization that I was no longer needed by anyone in this world," The blank look on Haku's face haunted Naruto more than the words he uttered.

"I tried to die many times but one day I met Zabuza-sama," Haku smiled lightly at this, "He gave me a purpose, he wanted my ability when others scorned it… This is why Zabuza-sama is my precious person."

The two stared at each for a few moments as Haku observed the emotions rolling around in the cerulean blue eyes of the orange clad shinobi.

Anger…. Anger was the one that was around the most, followed by, grief, guilt, sadness, regret, confusion. They all battled for dominance before fading into a dull emotionless look that matched his own.

Haku became surprised at this. He didn't expect the blonde before her to be able to control his emotions like that.

The whisper of a kunai being removed from its holster jolted her from her stupor.

"Haku," Naruto began in a voice much deeper than usual, "To save you from that pain… that feeling of unwantedness… I will end your life right here"

Haku smiled serenely, "Thank you, Naruto-kun"

The last sounds Haku heard were the chirps of many birds as Naruto buried his kunai deep in his heart. He drew a gurgling breath, and blood welled up in his mouth. Soon there was no strength left to even draw breath and his body went still. His final smile still etched onto his face.

Naruto closed Haku's eyes, allowing him a peaceful final rest. As soon as he removed his kunai from his heart blood gushed out like geyser. Naruto could only stare numbly as the reality of what he had just done hit him fully.

" _No…"_

Blood splashed on his face and was soon joined by warm tears.

" _What have I done?"  
_

* * *

 **2 weeks later**

Team 7 was en route to Konoha after Tazuna had completed the bridge.

Or at least what used to be team 7.

Kakashi had his nose buried in his favourite book, 'Icha Icha paradise' as usual, but the silver haired jonin was scarcely interested in its contents at this moment.

Over the last two weeks his team had undergone drastic changes, some for the better others for the worse.

When Sasuke regained consciousness and learned that his teammate, the dead last of the academy had killed a foe that had bested **him.** Well it didn't sit well with the Uchiha, that much was certain. Any progress Kakashi had made in regards to getting him work together with his team mates had been completely lost as the avenger had devoted almost all of his free time now to brooding.

The so called dead last had been walking around with a cloud over his head for almost a week after his first kill…or rather, first _kills._

 _Flashback_

" _Heh heh, which of you do I thank for getting rid of the bitch who broke my arm?" Gato laughed out smugly._

 _Naruto snapped._

 _How dare he insult Haku? It was his fault Haku died the least he could do now would be to end the life of the one who dared to insult his one true friend from beyond the grave._

 _Killing intent flooded the bridge as Naruto sped toward the army of thugs, aiming specifically for Gato. The diminutive man could do nothing as the red eyed boy rocketed toward him, claws outstretched._

" _ **Tell him yourself when you see him in the afterlife you filthy pig!"**_ _Naruto roared as his clawed hand wrapped around the man's fat neck before he squeezed hard enough to separate his head from his body._

 _The thugs surrounding quickly got over their fear when they realized they had the numerical advantage._

" _Hey! That was our meal ticket!" One screamed._

" _We'll kill you then take what we want from the village!" Cheers of agreement followed this one._

 _Naruto seemed content to simply let them kill him, he had killed two people- No, he killed one person and one monster. But he still killed; he was the monster the village thought him to be._

 _He could never face the old man or his other teammates after that. Especially since he still let Sasuke die._

 _A sword pierced his gut._

 _A spear pierced his shoulder._

 _A club hit his head. And blackness consumed him._

* * *

 _ **Please Rate and Review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary: Haku died by Naruto's hand that fateful day on the bridge. This causes Naruto to take shinobi life seriously as he follows his dream to become the greatest Hokage ever!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **Novrier: Thank you so much for my first review! I definitely understand what you mean and thanks for the feedback. I'll try my best to focus more on developing the emotional parts of the story.**

Chapter 2

Requiem for a dream

 _Flashback continued_

 _Darkness consumed his vision. There was no pain, no hurt, just darkness._

" _I believe that one can only truly become strong when they have something to protect"_

" _I'll protect the entire leaf village and become the hokage! Then everyone will recognize my existence!"_

' _My dream…'_

 _What would Haku think if he saw Naruto like this? He would be disgusted Naruto thought._

 _The shinobi that never went back on his word giving up on his entire dream after putting his life on the line to save a country without even finishing the job._

 _Pathetic.  
"Get up Naruto!" He yelled at himself aloud, "I'm going to become the strongest shinobi in Konoha and protect everyone! Then they'll have to recognize me!"_

 _Kakashi didn't know what happened when Naruto lost consciousness for that brief moment but when Naruto came to he was a different shinobi. Gone was the dullness in his eyes, replaced by an unwavering determination._

 _Naruto pull the sword from his stomach and immediately slit the throat of an incoming thug. Continuing with his swing he did the same for another approaching him from behind. Spinning it around in his hand to a reverse grip he ran through another, watching remorselessly as he spat up blood and fell limp over the blade._

 _He looked around slowly. The thugs had ceased their attacks in fear as they saw three of the cohorts cut down in less than 10 seconds._

 _Just then, an arrow landed in front of the thugs. It came from Inari, who stood in front of the entire village armed with pitchforks and various other weapons._

 _Naruto didn't remember what happened after that as he passed out. The toll on his body from using the kyuubi's chakra plus the multiple stab wounds left him weakened. But he did pass out… with a smile._

 _Flashback end_

Once Naruto awoke, he wasn't the same. Kakashi attributed it to having taken his first life and expected the blonde to approach him for counselling or at least to talk. But the orange shinobi mostly kept to himself, always either training or helping Tazuna out at the bridge.

As they arrived at the gates to the village, an ANBU arrived via shunshin before them.

"Hokage-sama wants to see us immediately right?" Kakashi inquired lazily, his eye never lifting from his book.

"Hai, Kakashi-senpai" if the ANBU operative was surprised, he didn't show it and simply vanished from his spot.

"Well, let's not keep our leader waiting!" the jounin said with an eye-smile as he grabbed his students and vanished in a shunshin.

 **Hokage's Office**

"Team 7 reporting back from a C-ranked mission sir!" Kakashi said cheerfully with an eye-smile.

"I see," the Hokage said with a small smile tugging at his lips, "And did you all have a good experience on this mission?"

None of the students replied, instead looking at their sensei to explain.

Kakashi gave his report to Sarutobi not leaving out a single detail. To his charges' surprise the old hokage's expression showed no surprise. Noticing this the hokage spoke up.

"You all are probably wondering why I don't seem surprised by this unexpected turn of events?" He began "If I had a ryo for every time a mission didn't go according to plan, I would be richer than Daimyo-sama. I was well aware of the Wave's situation, not to mention, a drunken civilian could hardly succeed in lying to me. Despite this I decided to send team 7 on this mission, do you know why?"

The genin of team seven shook their heads dumbly.

"It is because we need the wave to be free but also friendly with us so as to give the leaf preferential trade. This is why I didn't send a squad of ANBU, do you understand now?"

"Hai Hokage-sama!" the three responded in unison.

"Good," the hokage replied "You all will be granted one week off ninja duty, take this time to recover and enjoy yourselves a little".

They all gave their thanks and made their way to their respective homes. Kakashi stayed behind and as soon as the last genin left he felt the hidden ANBU leave as well.

Putting away his book, Kakashi became all business.

"I believe the seal is slipping" He stated with finality.

"Impossible, that seal is the single most secure jinchuriki seal in existence" Hiruzen replied evenly

"But Hokage-sama, I felt it's chakra during our final battle!" Kakashi said exasperatedly.

"I'm sure you did, but that does not mean the seal is slipping" the Sandaime said "Quite the contrary actually, you see my boy, the seal is supposed to give Naruto access to the beast's chakra"

Kakashi's shocked look nearly made the old man chuckle, "That is the way Minato-kun designed it. He made it so that over the course of Naruto's life, the Kyuubi's chakra would turn into Naruto's own chakra so that when he died at an old age he would take the Kyuubi's chakra with him, returning it to nature upon his death."

Kakashi was surprised his sensei had thought this through to such an extent within such a limited time.

"He really was a genius…"

"That he was, we lost him far too soon." They both had fond memories of the Yondaime, his loss hit them both very hard.

"It was his desire that Naruto be treated as a hero for being the jailor of the beast, but it seems he understood the villagers even more than I," Sarutobi chuckled mirthlessly, "He put a precautionary measure in the seal that activates whenever Naruto is in danger and releases a portion of the kyuubi's chakra. I'm not fully aware of all the specs of it but it seems that it also activates when he feels a strong negative emotion." The old hokage was rubbing his temples now.

Kakashi nodded silently, "Sasuke's sharingan has activated. The council will be pushing for me to train him more than the others."

"I understand. Are you going to enter them in the upcoming chunin exams?" Kakashi sighed at this.

"Before this mission I might have said no… but Naruto has changed... I think they're ready"

"Very well, then I'll leave Sakura to you and organize for someone to take over his training," Hiruzen looked out the window "It's about time he returned.

 **About Naruto's emotional state: He's going to be a little on the stoic side but he'll have his 'Naruto' moments as well. There won't be a stick in his butt, he simply has a belief of what a professional shinobi is and he tries to emulate that as much as possible. Let me know if you guys want a fight between Sasuke and Naruto in the next chapter, if so it'll be a bit longer than usual.**

 **That's about it! Hope you enjoyed chapter two of Hidden by the Leaves.**

 **Leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary: Haku died by Naruto's hand that fateful day on the bridge. This causes Naruto to take shinobi life seriously as he follows his dream to become the greatest Hokage ever!**

 **A/N: A couple people left reviews so firstly, Thank you so much for them as they definitely give me motivation to keep writing. Concerning the logical issues, I understand completely where you guys are coming from, but it's a simple explanation really. It is however my fault that it wasn't made perfectly clear in the chapter. About Hiruzen sending a rookie genin team despite knowing there was serious trouble in the wave. He had no idea that Gato would hire missing-nin to assassinate Tazuna. The wave doesn't have its own shinobi village; therefore most of its citizens share Inari's perspective on the subject of the difference in strength between ninja and thugs. Hiruzen is smart and all but he isn't all knowing (far from in fact as we'll see later on). Hence, he expected perhaps the army of thugs that Naruto killed to be their only opposition. Even if he did expect a missing-nin, he sent the team led by his s** **trongest jonin** **I'm sure he trusted Kakashi's abilities as a former S-rank, now A-rank shinobi. Also "the whole concept of jinchuriki" doesn't exist. There are only NINE of them and from canon at least Kakashi had no interaction with any of them prior to Naruto. As for the council, yes I agree with the whole idea being silly but I'm using it as a tool to keep Kakashi away from Naruto as much as possible for now without making him a bigoted idiot.**

 **Anyway, I'm glad you caught these so I can explain them in this chapter for everyone else. Thanks for the reviews everyone! Also I'm considering a pairing for Naruto later on in this fic, leave suggestions (no yaoi) and I'll filter them out and then hold a vote.**

 **Keep in mind this won't happen till much later, I don't believe in 12 year old dating.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **Enjoy!**

Training begins

Naruto pulled off his jumpsuit and began the tedious task of removing the unnecessary bandages the doctors put on him even though his wounds had mostly healed.

He never wanted to see that orange monstrosity again. It only reminded him of the old Naruto. The one that played pranks and shouted to get attention. He knew now, thanks to Haku, that he needed only to get strong enough to protect his precious people; recognition would follow quickly after.

As peeled of the last bandage from his shoulder, he got dressed in a black T-Shirt with a red spiral symbol on the chest and a pair of black long pants. He needed a plan for training, a routine if you will.

Grabbing a pen and paper he began listing off the hours in the day.

5:00 -

6:00 -

7:00 -

8:00 -

9:00 -

10:00 -

11:00 -

12:00 -

1:00 -

2:00 -

3:00 -

4:00 -

5:00 -

6:00 -

7:00 -

8:00 -

9:00 -

10:00 -

Sixteen hours in the day as he now promised himself no more sleeping in. He needed to get more jutsu to add to his pitifully small arsenal, but he knew that asking Kakashi for help there would be an exercise in futility. The only jutsu he had clearance for in the shinobi library as a Genin were E-Ranks and D-Ranks. Nevertheless he decided to send a couple of shadow clones to look out for any possibly useful Jutsu among those, just in case.

As for him, he needed to get stronger and faster. Eventually he came up with the following routine:

5:00 – Wake up, Run 10 laps around the village.

6:00 – Stretch and practice flexibility

7:00 – Breakfast

8:00 – Strength training (Push-ups, Sit ups, Squats, Pull ups, Dips, Leg lifts etc.)

9:00 - Strength training (Push-ups, Sit ups, Squats, Pull ups, Dips, Leg lifts etc.)

10:00 –Speed training

11:00 – Chakra control

12:00 – Chakra control

1:00 – Lunch

2:00 – Taijutsu practice

3:00 – Taijutsu Practice

4:00 – Ninjutsu practice

5:00 –Ninjutsu practice

6:00 – Shuriken and Kunai practice

7:00 –Sword training against shadow clone

8:00 -Dinner

9:00 -Studying

10:00 -Sleep

Satisfied with his training regimen, he looked up at the time; to hit the hay.

 **The next day**

Naruto arrived at training ground seven panting heavily from his run; he was wearing the same outfit from last night with the addition black fingerless gloves and metal arm guards. He also changed his blue headband to a black one to match his outfit.

He had sent two clones to the library to find some new jutsu he could learn, they would copy them down and bring them back to the apartment at noon. Despite his excitement Naruto forced himself to calm down and begin his stretches.

 **Time-skip: 2 hours later**

Naruto had just finished breakfast which sadly was not ramen. When he told the Ichiraku's about his plan to get stronger, they replaced his wonderful, precious ramen with boring vegetables and rice.

Why did he open his big mouth?

Sighing at the thought he got on all fours and began push ups. He didn't have a specific goal set; he simply planned on doing as many as possible. The same went for all the other exercises he did during the next two hours.

After the speed training which consisted of uphill sprints, downhill sprints, and flat sprints; Naruto set himself on climbing a tree for chakra control. He knew he could get to the top, but it was always a little shaky. He wanted to be able to walk up the tree without even thinking about it, like Kakashi did.

After two hours he felt a little more confident as he no longer had to focus all of his attention to the one task.

His previous fatigue forgotten, he made a shadow clone to pick up lunch from Ichiraku's while he headed home. Upon arriving he met his two clones sitting in the living room playing cards.

"Hey boss!" One greeted while the other waved.

Naruto's eyes immediately went to the scrolls on the coffee table.

"You guys can dispel now" Naruto said absently.

The clones saluted before disappearing in a plume of smoke.

Then the impossible happened.

"I got their memories?!"

 **Time-skip: 1 week later**

Team 7's week off had come to an end and their first meeting was scheduled for 7:00 am.

It was now 10:00 am and their sensei still had yet to arrive.

Sakura Haruno had spent her week off rewarding herself for surviving such a dangerous mission. Manicures, pedicures, spa treatments; the works.

Sasuke had spent his week brooding and training with his sharingan. He learned one new fire jutsu from his clan's library with it and was itching to try it out.

Naruto, after his discovery of the shadow clone's ability to send their memories to their creator upon being dispelled, spent his week greatly abusing this power. He had ten clones working on chakra control all day (more than ten clones working on the same thing gave him a migraine), another 10 at the library studying and learning everything he could about everything. Before he might have said that studying was useless to a shinobi and a waste of time, but there was no such thing as wasted time when you have an army of clones. He learnt about bloodlines, nature affinities, history, math, physics, poisons and antidotes, and even proper Taijutsu techniques.

He had taken to wearing weights after observing a spar between a man with a bowl cut and green spandex with some sort of shadow clone variant he spawned. He didn't know how much they wore, but if even a little could help his speed he would use them. He had found a set of four weights that could be adjusted with chakra, he didn't know why that guy didn't wear these but he didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the box in any case if his talking to his clone like he was a different person was any indication.

He currently wore 25 pounds on each arm, and 50 pounds per leg. He had come to realize that he adapted very quickly to the weight, having started at only 5 pounds and 10 pounds respectively.

His chakra control had increase many times over since wave and he was now working on combining the exercises he knew. So far the toughest had been spinning multiple leaves on his body while sparring on the water with a clone. He had begun training his nature affinities which were water and wind. Wind required more control to use but he had at least learnt one wind jutsu.

 _Flashback_

 _Naruto held the leaf in his palms and channelled his chakra like a blade through it like the book said._

 _The trouble came when instead of going to the leaf like he desired, the chakra flowed out to the edges of his hands._

' _Shit' he thought to himself. He tried willing it back to the centre of his palm where the leaf was but like the wind it paid his wishes no heed eventually forcing Naruto to expel a large amount of wind chakra horizontally from his palms in a blade like fashion._

 _The blonde could only watch in awe as a visible blade of wind chakra cut through the external air with a whistle cutting halfway into a tree trunk._

" _Damn."_

 _Flashback end_

He named it **Futon: Burēdopāmu no Jutsu (Wind style: Blade palm).**

The other new jutsu he learned was the **Shunshin no Jutsu.** He had taken quite a liking to that one, going as far as to incorporate it into his fighting style to give him an edge in battle. With his chakra reserves he could afford to use it as often as he liked. He currently only needed one seal to perform it but when he used all the required seals he found that he could go much faster.

' _What if I used Burēdopāmu while doing Shunshin? That'll be helpful for keeping my distance'_

His thoughts were interrupted when Kakashi arrived in front of them holding out 3 slips of paper.

"Sorry I'm late," he began sheepishly "I was nominating you guys for the chuunin exams"

 **End.**

Okay, another chapter done. Yes many of the jutsu in this fic will be original and the chuunin exams will be a little different and include more fighting so leave a review and start following this story if you aren't already!

Sorry it's a bit late; I was actually on vacation for the last ten days. Don't forget to leave a suggestion for a pairing in your reviews!


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